If there were more women working in the IT industry it could be more productive as males and females work better collectively, it has been claimed.

In the opinion of Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of Memset, men and women have different skills and strengths, meaning that they are most effective when combined.

Speaking at the Intellect Annual Regent Conference 2009, she added that the gender pay gap is also greater in the IT industry, as it stands at 23 per cent while the national average is 13 per cent.

'I think absolutely [the lack of women working in the IT industry] does matter,' Ms Craig-Wood said, before adding 'it's just not very nice working in an office that's full of guys and is very male-centric'.

A spokesperson for ClickAJob points out that gender is a major part of satisfying the culture issue.

'It's hardly fair to expect brilliance and perfection if you're surrounded by lager and football and your world is something else entirely,' he says.

'Employees need to feel at home, not like foreigners in their own workplace, no matter how polite their colleagues are.'

'Sure, there's synergy in men and women working together, but like every combination it's essential to have a balance,' he concludes.

A recent survey conducted by wtech-event.co.uk, discovered that over 50 per cent of women working in the IT industry intend to ask for a pay rise this year.

Labour apparently brought in a new law a few weeks ago that if a female doing the same job as a man within the same company is on a lower pay grade than her male counterpart she's entitled to know about it. I don't know how that works in practice but it seems like a great thing. It wasn't reported in the media too widely because it's something good and positive that the Government has done and they only like to report the negative and sleazy things some members of Parliament do. Shame.

I heard it reported very briefly on the BBC news two or three weeks ago. It was just before the whole "Expense Gate" kicked off but still they skimmed over this rather positive event in perhaps 20 seconds.

I think a lack of women in IT does matter if they're being discriminated against for being women. However, the small amount of women in IT jobs may, to some degree, reflect the smaller proportion of female undergraduates in computer related degrees. I think this comes into the boundaries of the positive discrimination issue. Yes women should be paid equally for a job they are doing as well as their male co-worker. However, is it right to give a woman a job over a male who is more qualified, purely to even out the gender ratios. Probably not. As a side note, is it really fair to stereotype men as only interested in "football and larger"?

That's probably true, but I think that all offices can be gossipy, regardless of gender. In fact, any collection of people that meet on a regular basis within an enclosed environment can become gossipy so to single out women in office is unfair. I don't think that this should be a reason not for hiring someone.

There's some really catty women where I work but there's also some really bitchy men. I saw the person on The Apprentice who said that, personally I thought she was being overly masculine to try and appeal to what she perceived to be a sexist nature in Alan Sugar.

I agree I think she was trying to say, "Look I'm just one of the blokes. Hard working and not at all bitchy." It was just a silly thing to say because whether her experience of working in an office full of females is that or not, it can be perceived to be sexist and a bit desperate. But then she didn't get the job anyway.

They're having some kind of Junior Apprentice next year as well as the usual one. I don't really know why or what for but sounds interesting. I also don't know if it will be for twelve weeks or just a few.